Save the Unimak Wolves from an Aerial Hunt

Federal officials at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have proposed killing half the wolves on Alaska's Unimak Island with cruel measures like aerial hunting and gassing pups.

Their justification? Lazy science that says the wolves are leading to a dwindling caribou population.

The suggested plan is an attempt to appease state officials clamoring for predator control at the expense of sound science, and fails to account for other potential causes for the decline in caribou numbers on the island.

With Alaskan officials eager to kill wolves on federal lands beyond Unimak, we need to draw a line in the sand now. These wolves are on federal lands and it is our responsibility to protect them.

Take action before the public comment period closes on January 31 to tell the Alaska Regional Director of the U.S. Fish and WIldlife Service to stop the wolf cull on Unimak Island!

Letter to

Alaska Regional Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceGeoffrey Haskett

As a supporter of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, I was extremely troubled to learn that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is considering conducting an unjustified wolf control program in order to protect caribou on Unimak Island -- a unit of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge) and federally designated Wilderness.

The Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for Unimak Island provides very little scientific data and does not demonstrate that such an action is necessary to protect the caribou from extirpation. The document also doesn't show that action is necessary to meet the purposes of the Refuge including providing federal subsistence hunting opportunity. Further, the Draft EA does not consider a full scope of reasonable alternatives that might meet the purpose of the document.

The State of Alaska is relying less on sound scientific information and increasingly on anecdotal evidence to support their predator control programs. I am extremely disappointed that the FWS would even consider following the same path.

I urge you to prevent the spread of the State's unjustified predator management programs onto federal lands and conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement to determine what type of management actions are necessary or appropriate on Unimak Island.